The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-10
BRIDGING The STREAM.
CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY AT
STAUNTON.


day to witness the celebration of the Con-
federate Memorial Association. The chief
attraction was the presence of Gen. W. ".
AveriIl. orator of the occasion. The column
was a mile long, consisting of military and
civil organizations, etc. In an elegant car
riage. drawn by four black horses, rode
Gov. Lee and Gen. Averill, and as they
passed along they were frequently cheered.
After the parade the speaking took place in
the opera house, which was crowded to suf-
location.
PLEASANT RECOLLECTION.
In introducing Gen Averill, Gov Lee re-
ferred to their long acquaintance, beginning
when both were boys at West Point, and to
their subsequent associations in the old army
Their commands had met face to face in
battle during the war that followed, and he
was prepared TO testify that no Drawer men
contended on either side than
the troop commanded by that
gallant officer, whose warfare
was upon men and not upon helpless women
and children. In closing, the Governor re
ferTed to the obliteration of the sectional
lines and the reunion of the people, as
shown by the presence of a Federal general
Joining with the Southern veterans In hon
oring the Confederate dead.
GEN. AvERILL's ADDRESS.
Gen Averill was greeted with ringing
cheers as he stepped forward, and from
time to time during his speech he was en-
Enthusiastically cheered. The following ex-
tracts give the drift of his speech:
FELLOW CoUNrRyMEH-I thank YOU for the
honor that your invitation brought to me, and
for the great pleasure of meeting you on this
occasion of the yearly reawakening of the
cherished memories of your departed soldiers.
Your courteous summons made me happy by
informing me that | was yet alive, for to be
forgotten is to be dead, and gladly come TO
assist in memorial service which shah keep
alive in memory the days and deeds OF those
brave men of yours who are not dead but living
jnmortally-just beyond the bourne of earthly
sense.
LONG RANGE SOLDIER.
Undoubtedly there are many people in this
country who were acquainted with the war at
long range, and are not yet aware that n is
over. And some double-tOngued statesmen
may feel surprised that one who had invaded
and pervaded your country with active
armed force, should be asked to receive your
hospitality on an occasion like this, when You
are peFpetnating the sad but heroic memories
he had helped to create.
When last was here, twenty-three years ago,
these hills had been reSounding with the dread
ful thunder Of artillery and the deadly rattle of
mtlsketFy, and the dust of these trampled fields
had been Redeemed with the blood of contending
armies
Now the Shenandoah valley brims to the
mountain tops with the quiet atmosphere and
sunny glow of peace, and the fields, as far as
the eye can reach, are covered with a billowing
mantle. of prosperity:
Since your invitation to me was announced 1
have received letters from many Of my officers
and men in different parts of the country, ex-
pressing their qualification at your action.
THE LEVER THAT MOVES THE WORLD.
Among those who greet me here today OBJ
serve the beaming faces of generation who
must have been too young to realize the tire
nlendous struggle of life and death to which
this occasion mainly relates, and whose notions
about its cause and conduct must be dim, and
perhaps they sometimes wonder what it was all
about. But they need not regret their
lack Of understanding, for very few
OF our leading men in government, ntera-
ture, legislation or politics, at that time,
or even this day, have reached down to the
broad and truthful premises which should under
lie any philosophical and candid consideration
of the origin and the results of the war. Not
remembering that that organized aggregate of
humanity called society the parent government,
derives its character from the character of the
labor that supports it-that the people of the
North and South were sustained by entirely
different forms of iabor-that the different
social conditions which resulted, were originally
united by ties of helplessness and mutual
dependence in resisting the oppressive exactions
of the mother country and achieved the
independence of the Republic and
perpetuate the Union Of States by
adopting the constitution-that great men of
DOIu social cOnQiJlOnS SIfONe earnestly ana long
TO maintain the Union in spite of the natural
and irresistible diversities which sprang from
social political and commercial antagonists
between these different social conditions, the
accommodating aggravations of which no govern
Inent devised by man could repress, until it fell
to the lot of the eighth generation of Ameri-
cans, no longer able to control or harmonic
them, TO resort TO the arbitrament of arms.
Then followed heroic period which
gave birth to great names, glorious
achievements and heroic deeds. One of
thano ay,fo fcffO nfol had 10 h.a
crushed. The strength of anything is measured
by the force required to break 1t. The strength
of Southern society was measured by million
men and 81, 900 100000 Incidentally and neces-
sarily the character of human labor became
homogeneous throughout the land. Political
parties had no more to do with the cause of the
war than the church militant has to do with the
earthquakes. The costly lesson we learned was
that labor is the lever that moves the world of
human life and in republic 1t must be free.
Human labor is God-like in this, that it mate
rallies thought and is creative in its functions
II is unrequited whenever any portion of its
wages are expanded on fictitious values.
GREATNESS IN ADVERSELY.
The nation can remember with honorab lie
pride that Southern men were great in war; it
remembers that when their cause was hopeless
ly lost they were greater in accepting with the
dignity of brave men the conditions and conse-
quences of defeat but posterity win never for
get that they showed themselves greatest in
meeting promptly and manfully the exigencies
of free labor. For over 1900 years mankind has
been instructed and civilization benefited by
picture of Cncinnatls called from his pillow to
assume the dignities and WELD the power Of the
Roman State a far greater picture in its
effects and benefits was furnished mankind
when your Governor, Gen. FitZhugh Lee, whom
mention representing the best and highest
type Of Southern manhood, after the war took
off his coat and put his hands TO the pillow for
the first time.
God who gave us our path and motion in the
universe and said, 'By the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread win smile on people
who recognize and respect the dignity of labor.
VAR's DREADFUL NECESSITY.
Amid the younger generation before me I
recognize the faces of those who must have
been my comrades of the war. We certainly
are comrades in several relations. In our cam
pagns and battles the same sky covered MS, the
same storm drenched us, we were despatched
by the same mud and bcgrimed by the same
dust and our marches and fatigues were cotem-
poraneous and coequal We assaulted each
other until we became well acquainted. With
regard to the personal feelings existing between
those who were acquainted with each other
or were friends when the war divided
them, i may mention CONVEX
sation l once had with President
Lincoln, which may be of interest. IL was
shortly after the first great cavalry battle of
the war, at Kellys Ford on the Rappahannock
early in 1853. The President came down TO visit
the army of the Potomac opposite Frederic1s-
burg and 10 review t. He did me the honor 10
Ee16fa IA